


Maternal Parallels

by Merfilly



Category: Talents Series - Anne McCaffrey
Genre: F/M, Slice of Life, Yuletide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-04
Updated: 2012-12-04
Packaged: 2017-11-20 07:57:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,160
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/583058
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Afra had to help the Rowan, and then he has his own wife to help with the perils of being a Prime Mother.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Maternal Parallels

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Chibifukurou](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chibifukurou/gifts).



Afra hummed softly, a small lullaby that repeated often and kept the girl he held quiet and still. The Rowan was, as usual, exasperated at how easily he had gotten Damia to sleep.

"I'm not a horrible mother."

"Of course you're not, Rowan." Afra smiled at her, even though it irritated the woman a little more that Damia had not shifted at his spoken voice. "You're just tired, have two demanding older children, and she's... your daughter."

"You say that in a most suspicious tone, Afra Lyon."

"Can you dispute it, my Prime?"

Her eyes met his, and then she sighed. "No."

"I think she'll stay asleep now, so if you'll put her to her crib?" Afra invited, though he could easily have placed her where she needed to be. The harried mother did as asked, a deft and gentle telekinetic portation putting Damia, still sleeping, in her crib. Afra stood from his chair, going over to where the Rowan was seated. "Don't fret so; she's just a little more of a handful than her siblings, because she's not as tightly bonded as they are."

"That never should have happened either."

Afra started a light telekinetic massage of the Rowan's temples and stress-tight back. "No, but it did, and it will have repercussions. Just as a certain child of Altair had to cope with the repercussions of being trapped from all help for too long."

"You cannot compare her situation to my traumatic isolation incident," she said, but she did not stop his skillful help at relieving her stress.

"I can and I will. She's isolated too, but through an accident as out of your control as that mudslide was." Afra settled in a chair, bringing a piece of paper to himself. As his massage continued, his fingers started deftly folding the paper, while the Rowan watched and relaxed.

"How can I fix that? You know Jeff doesn't want me to have another baby too soon." The Rowan was already thinking of sidestepping that stricture, and Afra knew it.

"Just let me continue working with her, and as she gets older, we'll introduce her to more children." Afra's newest paper sculpture was taking on the appearance of an old-fashioned baby carriage as he worked, and the Rowan could not help but shake her head at that. She grew silent, letting his massage do its magic. Her eyelids were drooping by the time he brought a second piece of paper to him, in a different color. She did not see what the second one became, for she was soon asleep in her lounge chair, making Afra smile slightly. He finished the last folds, then set the baby carriage and the second paper sculpture on her vanity to be seen when she woke. A quick and capable lift with his telekinesis had the Rowan safely in bed before he mind-touched all three of her children. All were dreaming, and he could leave, the mother bent over the baby carriage his gift to her for the next day.

* * *

As Afra settled into his bed that night, he considered all the options. The Rowan was a very busy woman, as Callisto cleared more traffic from out system and in than any other Prime Tower. They were the main point for Earth-bound traffic, and often had the better vantage to push traffic from Earth outwards. It was not as if Jeff Raven, now firmly installed as Earth Prime so Reidinger could enjoy his retirement, could actually be of much assistance in raising the three children either.

No, Afra would just have to continue as he already did, keeping the gamine infant as consoled and calm as possible while her older siblings explored their own world, shaped by their unique bond. That way the Rowan would have time to recuperate from her work load and still have time to enjoy her children as they grew up.

* * *

_Years later_

Damia flung herself across the bed, absolutely exhausted from mothering and shifting heavy ores across the entire League. Afra looked at her, thought she had the right of it, and joined her with only slightly more dignity to his flop.

"I take back everything I ever said about Mother!"

"Oh don't go that far," Afra said softly.

"Why not?" She rolled over to look at him, curious as to his reasoning.

"You weren't there to see the headaches, the tantrums, the absolute fits over her ability to both be a parent and maintain her post." Afra tried to reach out and start a massage with his telekinesis, but even his ability was severely taxed by the big, heavy rocks they moved day in and day out. He was too tired to do even that minor telekinetic trick at the moment. "Lay flat, so I can get those steel cords out of your back," he told her, rolling up and moving. Once she had complied, he settled over her hips, long fingers working on the muscles with careful pressure.

"Mother always throws tantrums," Damia said as she felt the almost-pain of him working knots out.

"The ones surrounding her mothering skills were epic, because they tended to be quiet ones only pitched once she was off duty." Afra shook his head. "She always hated not being able to do it all, but at the same time, I think she was afraid if she complained too loud, something would be taken away."

"In a way, I was," Damia told him, knowing she was the worst of her siblings for demanding too much.

"I had to convince her that there was no harm in being helped. It took doing," Afra said. He grew quiet, just working her muscles until she was less corded with tension, potentially able to sleep. As he moved to lay beside her, she rolled to her side.

"How did you convince her?"

Afra sighed softly. "I don't know. One night, I was helping her with you, the other two were down for the night, and we talked about it. I remember making her an origami of a mother with a carriage that night, and she never seemed to hit the same level of ranting or tantrum again. As though I had hit a note of recognizing her as the mother, the only one you'd ever have, with that simple gift."

Damia thought about that, then nodded. "That would be a good reminder, of where she belongs in my life and heart, I think." A sheet of paper in opalescent blue floated over to Damia. "Show me the sculpture?"

Afra smiled at his wife, and sat up against the headboard. "It takes two sheets," he told her, beginning the first folds as she choose a pale yellow for the second sheet. If she wanted that same reminder, he could not deny her.

* * *

The next day, the new mother and carriage were on display beside Damia's couch in the Tower, and she smiled each time she looked at them.

**Author's Note:**

> Image of the origami in question: http://www.giladorigami.com/P_Mother_Love_Elias.jpg


End file.
